Gala Poker Tour Grand Final : Day 2 - At A Glance

[NoflopsHomer]

Table Roland

Jonothon Butters -- 33k
Omar Ghandur -- 50k
Rob Akery -- 104k
Matt Tyler -- 40k
Roland De Wolfe -- 107k
Mark McGill -- 53.5k
Marcus Farthing -- 27k
Joe Beevers -- 64.6k

Table Tilly

Andrew Mitson -- 40k
Jennifer Tilly -- 57k
Paul Gardner -- 80k
Jitesh Thakker -- 48k
Antonio Esfandiari -- 46k
Bobby Rach -- 55k
Peter Cockayne -- 21k
Stan Essen -- 43k
Barny Boatman -- 70k

Table Bambos

Trevor Pearson -- 17.6k
Neil Channing -- 51k
Bambos -- 145k
Mark Stuart -- 80k
Andrew Feldman -- 68k
Ash Abdullah -- 20k
Jim Tierney -- 50k
Manuel Palanca -- 112k

[NoflopsHomer]

Ash Abdullah has doubled through Andrew Feldman with against . An ace on the flop quashing any hope.

Roland raises to 9k utg, Marcus Farthing moves all-in for about 21,900 more. Eventually Roland calls.

"You've probably got me," say Marcus showing . Roland shows .

Flop:



"ooooh..."

Turn:



"Wow, that's so sick," says Antonio.

(If you don't want to know the result, look away now...)



River:

!

[JungleCat03]

Peter Cockayne just moved allin for 17,600. With the blinds at 1500 3000, this was not that big a raise and a trivially easy call for Andrew Mitson to make in the big blind with J-J.

Indeed he was dominating Cockayne's 3-3.

A flop of drew a gasp from the crowd that had gathered round and gave Cockayne 8 more outs.

The turn completed the outdraw, and there was no split-inducing 3 or 8 on the river meaning Cocakyne doubles up to 37k or so, whilst Andrew Mitson had lost half of his 40k stack...

[NoflopsHomer]

Roland continues to be in all the action, he just re-raised Omar's preflop raises with Sevens only for Mark McGill to wake up with Queens in the blinds. Roland's stack has been halved, but that hasn't stopped him from continually raising, stealing Joe Beever's big blind but then passing on Jonothon Butter's big blind when Butters moved in.

Phil Laak is once again drawing a crowd in the cash game, he seems completely bewitched by the chocolate bar shaped £100 tokens, he says he feels like James Bond in Casino Royale.

[JungleCat03]

Antonio was jsut involved in another pot with Jennifer Tilley.

There was an early position limper for 3k before Jennifer too limped for 3k, the small blind of Jitesh Thakker completed and Antonio checked.

The flop came .

Checks all round.

TURN:

Antonio bet out 6k and was called by Jennifer Tilley.

RIVER:

Antonio thought a while and bet out 9k silently pushing his chips over the line.
Jennifer counted the chips out, riffling them up and down interminably with her diamond-bedecked fingers before ultimately calling, no doubt not wanting to bluffed off yet ANOTHER pot by Antonio.

Antonio turned over T-6 for trips whilst Jennifer gave no clue to her hand as she mucked pretty quickly. Antonio is certainly not taking it easy on his friend's better half today, bluffing her off when he's behind and getting her to call when he's ahead.

NO MERCY!

[NoflopsHomer]

Jennifer Tilly has a lot of chips. Sadly for her they're mostly of the 100 and 500 demominations... She just saw her 9k raise in midposition re-raised by Paul Gardner, who showed the when she passed.

Elsewhere, Neil Channing made what looked like a pure thievery bet on the turn of a board in a three-way pot against Bambos and Andrew Feldman, however the 8.5k bet was enough to get his opponents to fold.

[JungleCat03]

Bambos' table has seen some action in the last few hands.

Mark Stuart raised from the hijack and was met with a reraise by Ash Abdullah. Everyone else folded to Mark who also folded, showing the table A-2 whilst Ash showed the mighty A-A. "It's all I play!" he told his tablemates.

The next hand, the shortstacked Andrew Feldman pushed allin on the button for what looked like 15k or so. Jim Tierney called instantly, as you would with .

Andrew tabled .

The flop and turn gave Andrew a longshot gutshot.....BUT the river bricked out in the form of the meaning Andrew Feldman is OUT!

The quiet, reserved but increasingly dangerously stacked Jim Tierney added yet more chips to the towers he is amassing and we find ourselves down to 22 players...

[JungleCat03]

Barny Boatman and Jennifer Tilley have just clashed.

Barny raised from UTG and Jennifer went allin over the top.

Passed round to Barny who made the call very quickly for all his chips with .

Jennifer's As looked in bad shape, and she called "ACE ACE ACE" as the dealer started to deal the flop.

"Don't do it to me" pleaded Barny but the flop was a set-tastic and a turn and river completed the hand, giving a nice chunky set of chips to Barny.

As their stacks were tallied and Jennifer put her coat on and collected her bag, it was determined that Jennifer had Barny outchipped by a mere 700 chips so she took her coat back off and sat down. Next few hands though, her pittance was thrown in to no avail and she has now been eliminated, leaving us with 21 players and Barny with a big smile on his face...

[NoflopsHomer]

Jonothon Butters is OUT, his Ace Jack falling to Rob Akery's Aces. Akery looks to have taken over the chip leader with over 150k. Also gone is Trevor Pearson, we think with A-6 against Manuel Palanca's Kings.

[JungleCat03]

Players are dropping like flies now as the short stacks find their options increasingly diminished by the increasingly ferocious blinds, which have now risen to 2k 4k with a 400 ante.

Floppy has news of another exit coming and I have just been told that whilst the Tilley drama with Barny Boatman was happening, Trevor Pearson has also busted. He had a realtively small stack of 17k so his exit was doubtless the result of some preflop shenanigans, and it appears that Manuel Palanca was his executioner. If we can get details of the hands shortly we will.

Also one of the fallen is apparently Antonio Esfandiari, who was seen leaving the card room a few moments ago...

As I sit typing this, no doubt 4 or 5 more players will have fallen so I am off to join the battlefield and see if I can pick my way through the hacked off limbs and pools of blood scattering the fray to find out more information for you guys.

[JungleCat03]

I join Barny's table to see Barny with an enormous stack of chips that keep falling over as he attempts to arrange them. I think he must have been the one who knocked out Antonio, exlplaining his hordes of chips.

At this stage it is likely that Barny is the chip leader.

Matt Tyler looks over the moon...shortstacked down to 16k or so, he moved allin with K4 to be called by Joe Beever's Q7. One King high flush later he was on 34k. He now found A-K and moved in, and was called by Roland De Wolfe with A-J. Again his hand held up to propel him to 65k or so. He then picked up Q-Q and took down the not insignificant blinds to find himself on 75k, having worked his pittance back up to a respectable stack.

Floppy has some good photos of Matt enjoying himself...

[NoflopsHomer]

Antonio Esfandiari was short and pushed with but was called by Barny Boatman's Ace King, and despite flopping a straight draw and a four-flush, the last overseas vistor was out.

Matt Tyler has continued his rush, he just knocked out Bobby Rach, who, short-stacked pushed from the cut-off and Matt called with . Despite his desperation, Bobby had found a big hand, showing .

Board:

.

There's now a table redraw for the last two tables and Matt is delighted to now be sitting to the right of Joe Beevers and Roland De Wolfe.

Here he is stacking up the chips which have gone from 16k to over 110k in the last 5 hands or so.



I have a second, more comedic, slightly more gormless looking photo of Matt. But I'm not going to post it. Unless... At least 10 people specifically request to see it, then it's all your faults when Matt comes to kill you all (and me).

I can say it's a very funny photo, but you're just going to have to take my word for it...Any takers?

[JungleCat03]

Post it! (does my vote count?)

Anyway, further blood has been shed. Sitting on 40k Omar Ghandur raised to 12k from middle position to find Peter Cockayne moving in behind him for 45k or so. No sooner had he done that than Stan Essen also moved in behind for a similar sized stack - 50k or so!

Wowzer.

Back to Omar who said "1st hand I raise in an hour and I get two allins. I prefer blackjack" before folding.

Peter turned over but was in bad shape versus Stan's .

A Q popped out on the flop pretty much ending affairs, and no straights or flushes or backdoor quads were forthcoming, meaning Stan has received a timely double up, whilst Peter Cockayne is OUT!

Obviously this hand left Omar short so he will surely be moving shortly, for now we are down to 16 players...

[JungleCat03]

The tension is as thick as treacle round the two remaining tables now.

An expectant crowd is gathered round, watching every moment of proceedings and even the ice-cool Joe Beevers has had to remove his jacket as the heat starts to rise...

Jitesh Thakker just moved in for a tad over 50k on Bambos big blind.

Bambos checked his cards, got a count, shrugged his shoulders and CALLED!

Cards on their little backs, Thakker was found holding the perfectly respectable T-T, which though nice, was no match for Bambos' dominant J-J.

There were no suprises from the board meaning Jitesh Thakker is OUT and he looked understandably pretty disappointed at having run into a hand this close to the money. Poor lamb.



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Several hands later, Jim Tierney limped from the cut off for 4k and Barny Boatman completed from the small blind for a further 2k.

Omar saw this as an opportunity to win some chips with his shortstackand pushed allin. Jim looked disgusted, perhaps with himself for limping and ultimately passed before Barny simply said, "I call" for the additional 30k chips.

Omar tabled , but found Barney concealing his strength preflop with 9-9.

The flop proved no help to Omar beyond a single 7, meaning Barny's 9-9 held, he added yet further to the large stack he is amassing and Omar Ghandur is OUT!

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We are now down to 15 players, the average is 100k and as we have reached the end of the level, the players are now on a 15 minute break.

The players will return to blinds of 3k- 6k with a 600 ante. We'll be back shortly

[JungleCat03]

The TD has just informed the players that to prevent the contest turning into a crapshoot the blinds are being frozen for this level at 2k 4k with a 400 ante...

After the short break the players are champing at the bit to restart, as are we, and have jsut taken their seats so we will be starting any moment now.